Public inquiry and Consultation Committee

Coronavirus measures:

Suspension of periods

In application of several power of attorney decisions adopted by the Government of the Brussels Capital Region during the lockdown, the expiry periods, appeal periods and all periods of which the expiry has a legal effect as laid down in the regulations were suspended from 16 March 2020 and until 15 June 2020.

The acts and decisions adopted during this suspension period are fully legally valid.

Pursuant to the new power of attorney decision No. 2020/038 (PDF, 312.53 KB) adopted by the Government of the Brussels Capital Region on 10 June 2020, some terms of the Brussels Town Planning Code and the Ordinance of 5 June 1997 on environmental permits have also been extended, depending on the date of the submission of the application, the type of application or the stage of the procedure.

Public inquiries

Public inquiries were suspended since 16 March 2020.

Public inquiries restarted on 1 June 2020, but this restart involves many measures and a specific organization to ensure that the social distance rules as well as the necessary hygiene measures can be observed to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

For example, from now on, the consultation of the administrative file, the communication of technical explanations or submission of an oral complaint are by appointment only (02 279 29 29).

In addition, the restart prioritizes public inquiries that started before 16 March but were interrupted by the corona crisis. The days before 16 March are taken into account when these public inquiries are restarted. However, for practical reasons, we reserve the right to retake all such public inquiries.

Given the backlog during the lockdown and taking into account the current health measures, a restart of the special rules of disclosure (SRD = public inquiry and/or consultation committee) is planned after the regulatory summer break, based on a chronological treatment of the files.

Consequently, files will be started that could not be fully declared and of which the SRD could not be organized due to the lockdown. Once this backlog has been made up, the files that must be fully declared after the lockdown will be processed, also on a chronological basis.

According to the current estimate, the latter files will therefore not be able to be subjected to public inquiry until about mid-October, according to a schedule yet to be determined.

Consult the ongoing public inquiries at:

• Files subjected to public inquiry

Consultation Committee

The meetings of the Consultation Committee have been canceled or suspended since 16 March 2020. They restarted from 1 June 2020, but this restart is accompanied by numerous measures and a specific organization to ensure that the rules of social distance as well as the necessary hygiene measures can be observed to help control the spread of Covid-19.

In addition, during the restart, priority is given to Consultation Committee meetings scheduled before 16 March but canceled due to the corona crisis (sessions of 17, 24 and 25 March 2020).

Given the backlog during the lockdown and taking into account the current health measures, a restart of the special rules of disclosure (SRD = public inquiry and/or consultation committee) is planned after the regulatory summer break, based on a chronological treatment of the files.

Consequently, files will be started that could not be fully declared and of which the SRD could not be organized due to the lockdown. Once this backlog has been made up, the files that must be fully declared after the lockdown will be processed, also on a chronological basis.

According to the current estimate, the latter files will therefore not be able to be subjected to public inquiry until about mid-October, according to a schedule yet to be determined.

Consult the new dates of the Consultation Committee meetings, the agenda and the advice issued by the Committee on:

• Agenda and advice from the Consultation Committee

From now on, the following rules apply during the hearings:

• Only persons who expressly requested to be heard during the public inquiry will be admitted to the consultation committee
• In the case of a petition, district committee or other association, the number of persons admitted to the consultation committee is limited to two per petition, per district committee or per association
• Only persons in possession of an invitation are admitted to the consultation committee
• The number of persons accompanying or representing the applicant is strictly limited to two, including the architect

Please note: on 1 September 2019, a thorough reform came into force of the Brussels Planning Code (CoBAT - BWRO) and the Environmental Permit Ordinance (OPE - OMV). This reform made major changes to the procedures for the submission, handling, delivery and appeal of planning and environmental permits (certificates): reform of town planning legislation